Endometriosis and the neoplastic process

Rajesh Varma, Terrance Rollason, Rollason T, Janesh K Gupta, Gupta JK, Janesh Gupta, Eamonn R. Maher
Reproduction (Cambridge, England) · 2004 · vol. 127(3) , pp. 293–304 · doi:10.1530/rep.1.00020 · PMID:15016949 · W2127152095
Review OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 164 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-06 ⓘ

Endometriosis, a common disorder often linked to infertility and pain, shares molecular similarities with cancer and is associated with increased risk of ovarian cancers, suggesting it may be viewed as a neoplastic process.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Endometriosis is a frequent disorder that commonly presents with infertility and pelvic pain. Although the precise aetiology of endometriosis is unclear, it is generally considered to involve multiple genetic, environmental, immunological, angiogenic and endocrine processes. Genetic factors have been implicated in endometriosis but the susceptibility genes remain largely unknown. Although endometriosis is a benign disorder, recent studies of endometriosis suggest endometriosis could be viewed as a neoplastic process. Evidence to support this hypothesis includes the increased susceptibility to develop ovarian clear-cell and endometrioid cancers in the presence of endometriosis, and molecular similarities between endometriosis and cancer. In this article we discuss (i) the evidence suggesting that endometriosis might be viewed as a neoplastic process, and (ii) the implications of this hypothesis for elucidating the pathogenesis of endometriosis and developing novel methods of diagnostic classification and individualised treatments.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell Carcinoma, Endometrioid Endometriosis Neoplasms, Multiple Primary Uterine Neoplasms Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell Carcinoma, Endometrioid Carcinoma, Endometrioid Carcinoma, Endometrioid Disease Susceptibility Disease Susceptibility Endometrial Neoplasms Endometrial Neoplasms Endometrial Neoplasms Endometrial Neoplasms Endometriosis Endometriosis Female

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (100)

Cited by (50)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-13T06:10:10.580696+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:02:29.018211+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-10-13T06:25:51.201866+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK